Rory, DJ and Rickie to play in charity golf match

RIDGELAND, S.C. – Rickie Fowler, hot off a runner-up finish at last week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan, finished up a long practice session at Congaree Golf Club Tuesday and exhibited genuine excitement when he learned his grouping for Thursday’s opening round at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. Fowler will play alongside 2022 FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy, his south Florida neighbor, and South Korea’s Tom Kim, golf’s fresh-faced, 20-year-old rocket ship. (A bonus: Kim has Fowler’s good friend and former caddie Joe Skovron on his bag.) It wasn’t that long ago, or so it seems, that Fowler was the kid strapped to the PGA TOUR launch pad. The high-flying California motocross daredevil and gunslinging Oklahoma State Cowboy was the game’s resident star in waiting. He certainly has had shining moments, winning five PGA TOUR titles, including THE PLAYERS, earning more than $42 million, becoming a highly sought-after pitchman and performing on U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams. He may reside at 106th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he is a first-team A-lister. As needle-movers go, few can move it more than Rickie. Fowler will turn 34 in December, and he finds himself in a different mode in this season of his career. Fowler is busily rebuilding and rebooting after a few dismal campaigns defined mostly by struggle. Fowler made 60 starts over his last three seasons starting in 2019-20, and finished in the top 10 four times. (Consider that in 2014, he had top-5 finishes in all four major championships.) Outside of golf, Fowler said his life could not be better. He and his wife have an 11-month-old daughter who fills their lives with joy. The hard work on the golf course, even through challenging times, never has stopped, and lately, finally, there is real optimism in his tank. (“You’ve seen that Rickie wants to get back to where he was and play at a high level again,” said Billy Horschel, Fowler’s former Walker Cup teammate.) Fowler’s solid performance in Japan, where he lost by a shot to Keegan Bradley, came on top of a tie for sixth at the season-opening Fortinet Championship in Napa. It’s early days, as they say, but in 10 rounds this season Fowler has yet to shoot anything higher than 70. When the charter from Japan touched down Monday morning, Fowler, wanting to stay awake and adjust to his new time zone, just walked the golf course at Congaree to see it. His mind, understandably, was in a pretty good place. “It’s just nice to see some things head in the right direction, to start to build some momentum and confidence,” he said. “That’s definitely something we struggled with the last few years. I might have a good week here or there, but nothing ever back-to-back, or able to build on a good week, anything like that. It (the finish at ZOZO) was definitely good to see.” There are two keys to Fowler’s improved play. In a word, Fowler seems to have simplified the many swing thoughts and new feels that seemed to complicate his long game, or at least prevent it from feeling natural. He returned to the tutelage of the sage Butch Harmon, the man with whom he started this journey. Fowler said he feels terrible that things did not work out with coach John Tillery, who had been teaching him for a period. They certainly worked at it. He said his days with Tillery, and all he learned, have been a sturdy bridge to start up with Harmon again. “I can’t say enough good things about him (Tillery),” Fowler said. “We were living and dying with it together, and I really wouldn’t be in this position that I am now, playing, and being able to do the stuff with Butch, without learning all the stuff that I did with Tillery. It’s a bummer that we didn’t have the success that we wanted, but it also kind of laid the groundwork for right now.” His work with Harmon has led him to a steeper swing plane with his left arm that gets his hands in a better spot, gives him more room to swing, and makes his swing far more efficient. More importantly, Fowler’s confidence in his putting has returned, too. That’s huge. He led Strokes Gained: Putting in 2016-17, and finished as high as 13th four seasons ago, but he has been completely lost on the greens the last two seasons. In 2021-22, he was 161st in the category. That will put pressure on every nook and corner of one’s game. He doesn’t have a great explanation why it seems to be so improved of late, and didn’t putt great on Sunday, when he might have put forth a better challenge to Bradley, who also hadn’t won in a few seasons. But since going to a new putter in Memphis, his final start of last season – where Fowler opened with 65 – the putting has started to build, like a burgeoning drumbeat. So the swirling swing thoughts are reserved only for practice sessions, and the mindset on competition days is “Let’s go play golf.” That, and the 10-footers are starting to find the hole. That combination can ease a golfer’s mind in real time. “That (improved putting) frees up so much from just getting to the green,” he said. “That’s something that, the last couple of years, I never had that … to let myself free up.” The CJ CUP in South Carolina will be Fowler’s last start of 2022. He loves to play in Mexico, at Mayakoba, but his good friend Justin Thomas is getting married that week in November, and Fowler is a groomsman. So he will play this week and carry his positive vibes into 2023. Give Fowler credit. Through the tough times, his chin seldom dropped, and he never has not been shy discussing the process of his long climb back. He carries some pretty good perspective to the struggling times he has endured with class. “This isn’t life out here. This is part of life; it’s what we get to do,” Fowler said. “It’s fun, though not all the time. Looking back, it wasn’t an enjoyable time, but it’s part of it, and it’s ultimately how you come out on the back end, and how you get through it. … If handled and done the right way, it’s only going to make you better.” And Fowler, if nothing else, is better, and just bold enough to harbor aspirations that, in his mid-30s, he can be better than ever.

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The PGA TOUR returns to TPC Louisiana this week for the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. This marks the first year of team play at the event, and with the new format comes plenty of questions. Click here for the list of the teams set to compete. Here is the breakdown of this year’s team format. HOW IT WORKS TEAM FORMAT: Round 1 and 3 are Four-Ball (Best-Ball) and Rounds 2 and 4 are Foursomes (Alternate Shot). For Foursomes play, players will rotate tee shots. One player will hit the tee shots on all the odd-numbered holes, and the other will hit the tee shot on even-numbered holes. Example: Player A and Player B are partners. On the first hole, Player A tees off; Player B plays the second shot; Player A plays the third shot; and so on until the ball is holed. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for that hole. For Four-Ball play, the players on each team will each play his own ball throughout the entirety of the round, with the best score on each hole recorded. Example: On the first hole, both golfers on each team tee off. Player A pars the hole and Player B birdies it. The team will be credited with a birdie. FIELD: The starting field will consist of 80 teams (160 players). Each of the top available players from the PGA TOUR Priority Rankings who commits to the tournament will choose his partner, who in turn must have PGA TOUR status unless he is chosen as a tournament sponsor exemption. SCHEDULE: Thursday’s Foursomes round begins at 8 a.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), with the last tee time at 1:56 p.m local. Friday’s Four-ball round begins at 7 a.m. local (8 a.m. ET) with the last tee time at 2:02 p.m. local. Teams will go off two tees in each of the first two days. Saturday’s start time is approximately 9 a.m. local off one tee. Sunday’s start time will be determined later. MAKING THE CUT: Following the conclusion of the second round, there will be a cut to the low 35 teams and ties at the 35th position.  IN CASE OF A TIE: A hole-by-hole (sudden death) playoff will be contested with the first hole played as foursomes (alternate shot), the second hole played as four-ball (best ball) where the formats alternate every hole, thereafter, on a set rotation of holes. WITH A WIN: The Zurich Classic of New Orleans will continue to award FedExCup points and official money, and will count as an official victory for the members of the winning team. As such, both players will receive a two-year winner’s exemption and an eligibility into Invitational fields, including the Tournament of Champions and THE PLAYERS Championship. Additionally, the PGA of America will include both members of the winning team in the Tournament Winners category for the PGA Championship. PRIZES: FedExCup points and prize money will be awarded to teams making the cut based on combining every two positions from the distribution table for a standard TOUR event, with each team member receiving an equal share. For instance, the winning team will evenly split first and second place FedExCup points (500 for first and 300 for second for 800 total points, or 400 for each player). Official prize money will be distributed in the same manner.  KEY QUESTIONS Why was the format changed? The PGA TOUR Policy Board approved the change in November, 2016 as a way to introduce team competition into the regular TOUR schedule. Said Andy Pazder, Chief of Operations for the PGA TOUR: “We have seen the growth of popularity with the biennial team competitions like the Presidents Cup, Ryder Cup and World Cup and the excitement that they produce. We believe the fans will love to see this sort of competition as a regular part of our season.” Has there ever been a team competition on the PGA TOUR? Yes. The PGA TOUR has held 61 previous official team events, with two pros paired together, using various formats. The PGA TOUR has contested 13 official team tournaments with a pro paired with an amateur (the pro always earning official-win designation). The last official TOUR team event was the 1981 Walt Disney World National Team Championship, won by Vance Heafner and Mike Holland.  How is the Zurich Classic format different? The Zurich Classic will use an alternating-round Foursomes and Four-ball format for the first time. The closest the PGA TOUR has previously come to using a Foursomes format in an official event was at the 1934 Pinehurst Pro-Pro played at Pinehurst’s famed No. 2 course and won by Tommy Armour and Bobby Cruickshank. That tournament played under Scotch Foursomes rules, a setup that allows each player to hit a drive on each hole and then whichever player’s ball is in the best position, the teammate hits the next shot in alternate-shot fashion until the ball is held. The Foursomes format at TPC Louisiana will strictly be alternate shot for every shot played on the hole.

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